USAAF(?) crash at Wattisham Suffolk 12.10.44

[BC]

Hi all:

Seeking the identity of a USAAF(?) aircraft crash at Hall Farm, Wattisham, Suffolk on 12 Oct 1944. Two civilians, Ivy Elizabeth Haxell, aged 46, domestic servant, and Colin David Knock, aged 16 months were killed.

No Police report traced for the incident and nothing obvious from the USAAF crash-report indexes?

One account describes the aircraft as a P-38 on a delivery flight.

TIA for any help or pointers.

Regs,

BC

[kaki3152]

Maybe this one
441012 - B-17G - 42-39973 730BS ,452BG 142 8 KCR 5 Miller, William J ENG Ingham/ 2mi W

My English geography is weak so I don't know if this is in the vicinity.

[RSwank]

Toward the bottom of this link is a list of all the crashes involving the 479th FG which was based at Wattisham. Note the group transitioned from P-38s to P-51 in Sept/Oct 1944. Their last flight using any P-38s was Oct 3, 1944. There is no accident listed for 12 Oct 1944. US women ferry pilots (WASP) did not operate overseas and the WASP was disbanded in December 1944.

http://www.8thafhs.com/db/get_one_ac...?acgroup_id=69

I suspect some of the information is in error as to either date, women? pilot, type of plane, etc.

It is certainly possibly that P-38s were being transferred out of the base in Oct 1944. Were any being transferred to the RAF? (I don't know). Did the RAF use women ferry pilots? The 479th was the last 8th AF unit to use P-38s, The 9th AF continued to use P-38s for a few groups.

Ivy Elisabeth Haxell did apparently die on 12 OCT (or should it be Dec 10?)
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...&GRid=57993284
Also Colin David Knock
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...&GRid=57993310

but.... both are buried in Cosford, Shropshire, England according to findagrave.com, a long way from Wattisham.

Or.....Perhaps findagrave has the wrong "Cosford"? I believe there might also be one in Suffolk as there is a "Cosford Road" just south of Wattisham.

[BC]

That is very strange. My informant, Terry Betchley MBE of the Wattisham Airfield Museum, informed me the two civilians were buried at nearby Battisford Churchyard? Also, he was told the aircraft was a USAAF P-38 on a ferry flight and the pilot was female.

More swotting needed on this one!

BC

[RSwank]

Now here is something:

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/ca...VY%20ELIZABETH

It seems Ivy Elisabeth Haxell was the " Daughter of John W. and Alice M. Haxell, of Stone Cottages, Battisford, Needham Market. Died at Hall Farm, Wattisham."

It would appear some of your info may be correct.

I did look at the 3 crashes of P-51s that occurred on 10 Dec 1944 for the 479th. Two planes apparently collided in a taxi accident and another had a wheel/landing gear collapse on landing, so none would seem to involve a crash into a house.

Some random thoughts on this, was Wattisham still being used to repair P-38s (possibly for the 9th AF)? Was this an F-5 rather than a P-38 that crashed. We seem to be missing some key information.

[RSwank]

There was a repair depot located at Wattisham.

From this link:
https://sites.google.com/site/jsairf...g/rafwattisham


"4th Strategic Air Depot installation was officially named Hitcham, which was actually the name of a village two miles to the north-west of the site, to differentiate it from the fighter station using the same airstrip. The base was, by 1944, responsible for the maintenance of all American fighters in the UK."

This is the list of overseas accidents for Oct 44.
http://aviationarchaeology.com/src/A...y/Oct1944O.htm

Here is another list of accidents for Oct 44 from another source.
http://www.accident-report.com/world...uk/uk4410.html

Looking for either Wattisham (Station 377) or Hitcham (Station 470) or at all accidents on 12 Oct in Eng, I don't see anything that would quite seem to be accident of the story. Either this was an RAF plane that crashed, or there is some "bad" or missing data in the accident report sources.